Municipalities across the country are using HRC’s Municipal Equality Index (MEI) as a roadmap to make their communities more inclusive of the LGBTQ people who live, work and travel there.

I had the opportunity to meet recently with the Human Rights Commission of Arlington County, Virginia to discuss how the county can achieve a perfect 100-point score in the 2018 MEI. In 2017, it received a laudable score of 93. Arlington County and Alexandria were the highest-scoring Virginia communities in last year’s MEI, each earning more than 85 points — despite being located in a state without LGBTQ-inclusive statewide non-discrimination laws.

The 2017 MEI, released last October, rated 506 cities across the country on their LGBTQ-inclusive laws, policies and services. The MEI scorecard assesses cities in five categories: non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement and the city leadership's public position on LGBTQ equality.

Finally, cities that push back against restrictive state laws will receive 3 points, rather than 4, for their efforts.

In total, the MEI will reflect 100 standard points and 22 bonus points.

Cities that don’t fall within the MEI's city selection criteria are welcome to complete the self-submit process. Cities are also encouraged to email mei@hrc.org to learn more about the MEI scorecard and how to improve their score ahead of the 2018 publication release.

The full 2017 report, including detailed scorecards for every city, as well as a searchable database, is available online at www.hrc.org/mei.